Reader.
As we begin this little mini-series on the women whose voices rise around the birth of Jesus, I want to start farther back in the story than you might expect. (and it hints to the 2026 Living Room study - see below!)
Before Mary opens her mouth in Luke’s Gospel, there is a long line of women whose voices poured out in moments of deliverance.
The last two sessions of our Women of Wisdom Living Room series were on Huldah and Deborah. Deborah many know about. Huldah… not so much. When I mention her, I usually get an eyebrow raise and a “Who is Huldah?” Both women are remarkable. Both are prophets.
But only Deborah is both a prophet and a judge, just as Samuel and Moses were.
Her location between Ramah and Bethel is the same region associated with Samuel’s ministry, placing her symbolically in his line. And her song with Barak pulls the reader back to Moses, who also sang a song of victory with a woman, his sister Miriam. It is remarkable that Deborah’s warlike song, believed to be one of the oldest poems in the Bible is given an entire chapter to her celebratory prose, unlike any other judge.
Most scholars point out that Deborah and Huldah stand in the line of Miriam. That surprised me, because I had always pictured Miriam simply as the woman dancing with the tambourine. But in Exodus 15, she is named a prophet. And the first expression of her prophetic role is not a speech. She sings.
Exodus 15 places Miriam beside one of the most dramatic moments of deliverance in Scripture. The sea closes over Egypt’s army. Israel walks through on dry ground. Moses leads the people in a long song of praise, and then..
“Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand,
and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.”
Exodus 15:20
Her first recorded prophetic expression is this:
“Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted;
horse and rider He has hurled into the sea.”
Exodus 15:21
Some scholars believe her line functions like a call-and-response alongside Moses’ full song. If you flip to the beginning of Exodus 15, you can hear it:
“I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”
Exodus 14:31–15:1
I grew up with a tradition of "singing in the spirit", but looking at Scripture here I began to wonder: How do prophecy and singing overlap?
When I went back to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, one definition especially caught my attention. The Hebrew word for prophet, nabi, carries the sense of “bubbling up” or “boiling forth” — words that pour out like someone speaking under divine inspiration, as prophets and poets do.
It is such a simple picture:
When you encounter the delivering hand of God, something has to come out of our mouths.
Words spill out before you can contain them.
You speak or sing or pray because you can't keep silent.
Across the Old Testament, we see this in in Deborah, Miriam, Hannah, and Huldah. Their voices emerge in witness to God’s rescue, judgment, and hope. Their words mark turning points in Israel’s story.
Which brings us to Luke’s Gospel.
When we enter the opening chapters of Jesus’ birth, surrounded by angels, priests, and shepherds, three women stand out for what pours out of them. Our next three emails focus on:
- Mary opens her mouth and speaks a prophetic song.
- Elizabeth cries out with recognition and blessing.
- Anna gives thanks to God and begins telling everyone who will listen about the child who has come to redeem Jerusalem.
Before we go there, can I invite you to reflect?
If you looked back over your life, where do you see God’s hand of deliverance and rescue?
When you think of God’s faithfulness, what words begin to surface?
What has He delivered you from that you cannot keep quiet about?
What do you sense pouring out when you remember your own story?
In the next email, we will begin with Mary — or more accurately, Miryam — named after the first woman of song in Scripture. Her Magnificat echoes Miriam’s victory cry, and we will look closely at what spills out of her as she responds to God.
The words of Miriam and Moses and Mary weave throughout Psalms & Scripture. As a prayer, I leave you with this one example.
Psalm 81:1–10
Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob.
Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
“I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.
In your distress you called and I rescued you…
Hear me, my people, if you would only listen to me.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.”
2026 Illuminate Living Room Series
For those of you interested in joining next year's Illuminate Living Room Series, this email also begins the early research for our 2026 theme, Women of Deliverance. We will spend time with the women in Exodus, beginning with Miriam.
Details and sign-up will be coming soon.
